Advisors Preferred LLC Invests $428,000 in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR)

Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,697,636 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $461,679,000 after purchasing an additional 415,366 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 920,814 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $250,892,000 after purchasing an additional 25,773 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 128,983 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,092,000 after purchasing an additional 31,915 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 81,006 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,066,000 after purchasing an additional 43,384 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in RenaissanceRe by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 80,773 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,003,000 after purchasing an additional 8,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 target price (down previously from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $280.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on RenaissanceRe from $318.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on RenaissanceRe from $229.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Stock Down 0.6 %

RNR opened at $239.49 on Friday. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. has a one year low of $208.98 and a one year high of $300.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $255.06 and its 200-day moving average is $257.69. The company has a market capitalization of $12.44 billion, a PE ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.43.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.99%. On average, equities analysts predict that RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. will post 29.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

RenaissanceRe Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. RenaissanceRe’s payout ratio is 4.45%.

Insider Transactions at RenaissanceRe

In other news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total transaction of $254,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,178,270.72. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About RenaissanceRe

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Property, and Casualty and Specialty segments. The Property segment writes property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes, including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, as well as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, explosions, and acts of terrorism; and other property class of products, such as proportional reinsurance, property per risk, property reinsurance, binding facilities, and regional U.S.